Democrats and Republicans prove they can come together, but only to play baseball

WASHINGTON —A group of 15 fans sat behind the GOP dugout at the Congressional Baseball Game on Thursday night with a message. “Build that wall,” they chanted, a political slogan that had little to do with the actual play unfolding in front of them.

The group was part of the crowd at Nationals Park there to cheer on Republican and Democrat lawmakers as they played in the annual bipartisan event. Sponsored and organized by the political publication Roll Call, the game is a tradition that dates back to 1909.

As the innings progressed, fans sitting behind the Democrats’ dugout came up with a chant of their own. “Do your job,” they shouted, a slogan Democrats have coined in reference to Senator Mitch McConnell’s and other GOP leaders’ refusals to hold hearings for Merrick Garland, Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court.

In other words: The stands — filled with congressional staffers and anyone else with $10 and a desire to be there — were as heated as our country’s current political climate.

“In years past, we would come out here and just have a good time,” said Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, D-Calif as she stood on the field before the game. She’s the only woman who plays on either team, and the back of her jersey has IX sewn onto it, an homage to Title IX. “But the last couple days have been kind of crazy and very tense. So it’ll be interesting to see how the game proceeds tonight. I suspect that everyone will relax.”

(Photo by Charlotte Wilder)

The game took place less than 24 hours after house Democrats, led by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, launched a sit-in that drew over 150 lawmakers protesting the government’s failure to take action on gun control after the deadliest mass shooting in American history. If you were watching one of the Democrats’ Periscope accounts that broadcast the sit-in on Wednesday night, you might have noticed that the House floor more closely resembled a bunch of angry fans at a sporting event than it did a group of people tasked with running a country.

“We saw some behavior on the floor that wasn’t very congressional last night,” Sanchez continued. “Some of the Republican members of congress were heckling and got a little physical. Luckily it was nothing major — we got separated and things calmed down. But you know, it puts people on edge a little bit. It was more like what you would see on a field of competition.”

Given the political gridlock and the horrible rhetoric of the 2016 election cycle, it’s almost astonishing that the Congressional Baseball Game took place this year at all. Democrats and Republicans weren’t playing on teams together, of course. But we’re living in the most divided political era in recent history, so the fact that the match-up didn’t end in a brawl was impressive (though there was a shoulder check at one point between opposing players at third base).

Some lawmakers on either side of the aisle seemed to be grateful for a chance to all be in the same place, one that wasn’t a government building. And they all appreciated that proceeds from the game go to the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, and the Washington Literacy Center.

“I think it’s a great way for us to come together and do something fun that’s not too serious,” said Kentucky Senator Rand Paul after the Republicans had their team picture taken. Moments before, he had popped out of the dugout and sprinted over to right field so as not to miss the photo-op. During the game, he drew the loudest cheers from the GOP side when he got up to bat.

“We have a lot of serious discussions, as you’ve seen over the the last couple days,” Paul continued. “Here, it’s not too serious, and we’re playing for charity. And yet we still want to beat [the Democrats]. It’s friendly, and yet we still want to beat them.”

Each representative and senator wore a jersey related to their home district, be it that of a local school or MLB team. The majority of those on the field looked more like managers of baseball teams than players, but in mismatched uniforms.

And yet, the game was oddly enthralling, and our nation’s leaders weren’t actually all that bad. They’d clearly been practicing — there were few wild pitches and not nearly as many errors as you’d expect. It was hard not to get invested, especially when the GOP took an early lead as the Democrats struggled. Or when the Democrats were down 6-2 at the top of the sixth and rallied hard to end the inning a run ahead of the Republicans.

But the biggest play was the last one, when the GOP, down by 1, scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to win the game (lawmakers only play seven innings, given that their pace is not exactly that of MLB players).

Perhaps the Democrats’ loss was due to the fact that their ringer, Congressman Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, who played college baseball at Morehouse College, appeared not have brought his A-game on Thursday. He messed up simple plays, such as misplacing a throw while attempting to take out a runner at home plate, and, in an early inning, getting tagged out trying to steal home after stealing the previous three bases.

Or maybe the Democrats lost because many of the players hadn’t gone to bed in two days due to the sit-in.

“I have not slept,” said Congressman Dan Kildee, a Democrat from Michigan, before the game. “I went home, took a shower, and changed last night, and then I went back to the floor. I took about a 20 minute nap this afternoon. The adrenaline will carry us.”

It didn’t. But that didn’t really matter, because, for Kildee at least, the actual game isn’t the most valuable part of the whole experience. He said that while the bipartisan aspect is great, the 7 a.m. practices that the Democrats hold in the month leading up to to the game are the real draw. Senators and congressmen become friends as they throw the ball around. Everyone makes a concerted effort to attend each practice.

(Photo by Charlotte Wilder)

Work, however, sometimes gets in the way. Last week, after the Orlando shooting, Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn filibustered on the senate floor in an attempt to get the government to do something about gun control. He missed a practice for that (he also drew roars from the crowd on the Democrats’ side each time he got up to the plate).

“Chris is a great player, a really great catcher,” Kildee said, wiping the sweat off his brow. “And he really inspired us in the House. The filibuster he led in the Senate inspired the Democrats in the House to do what we did yesterday. Chris showed that a single person, or a single group of people, can focus the attention of the country on a particular issue. We don’t have the same tools they have in the Senate, but we decided to invent our own tools. And, following our spiritual leader John Lewis, we did something that, I think in the long run, will turn out to be really special.”

Kildee, Sanchez, and several other Democrats said they were frustrated by the fact that they and their GOP counterparts could manage to come together for a fun night of baseball, yet they can’t reach common ground on Capitol Hill. Representative Patrick Murphy, a Democrat from Florida who’s running for Senate against Republican Marco Rubio, blamed it on the fact that people aren’t friends with other leaders across the aisle anymore.

“One of the things that a lot of members of Congress who’ve been here for a while say to the newer members is that 30 years ago, Democrats and Republicans were friends,” Murphy said. “Their families would all go to dinner, their kids would go to school together. They all comment that that’s whats broken down. It’s frustrating to hear what it used to be like and what it’s become. Hopefully it won’t be like this forever, and this game is a piece of of trying to get back to that.”

Not everyone agreed with Murphy’s assessment, though. Before the game, Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, said that he’s very close friends with many of the Democrats he was playing against. He and Paul said everyone on the field leaves politics at the office, and Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly, a Democrat, agreed. Flake also pointed to the fact that the day of the game, during the sit-in in the house, the senate agreed to continue considering a bipartisan amendment to a gun control measure (it’s unlikely to ultimately pass, per USA TODAY).

But regardless of how the players felt, the stands remained divided. A man sitting on the GOP side turned to the person next to him after one of the Democrats stole second base and said, “they steal everything, like taxes, they steal everything.” During the last inning, a woman on the Democrats’ side shouted, “Jeff Flake, you’re racist!” when Flake got up to bat.

Some goodnatured heckling is to be expected, but there was an unsettling ferocity to the cheers on Thursday night. In the final inning, the GOP fans chanted “Marco Rubio” at Murphy as he pitched. The Democrats’ fans then hurled back, “Little Marco,” which was the nickname Donald Trump gave Rubio during the Republican primary, followed by “little hands,” an insult Rubio said to Trump. Echoes of “build that wall” returned from the GOP side.

But fans of the Democrats weren’t about to let that go. “Do your job,” they shouted back.

Democrats and Republicans prove they can come together, but only to play baseball

The annual Congressional Baseball Game was as heated as our country’s current political climate.

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